(By Tsem Rinpoche and Pastor Shin Tan) One of the greatest intellectuals of India, Acharya Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi (9th October 1876 – 24th June 1947) was a Buddhist, Pali and Sanskrit scholar. The youngest of seven children, Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi was born in Sankhval (or Sancoale) village in the Indian city of Goa in...

Shantideva was a Buddhist scholar, monk and philosopher, who lived between the 7th century and the 8th century. He is considered one of the 84 Mahasiddhas. Born a wealthy prince, Shantideva turned his back on the material world the night before he was to be crowned king. This extraordinary transformation blossomed from the teachings...

Ven. Jeong Kwan is a 61-year-old Zen Buddhist nun who has lived the life of a hermit for the past 44 years. Born into a Korean family with six other siblings, she grew up on a farm and learnt to make noodles by hand at the age of just seven. This deeply impressed her...

I came across a series of videos by a great Sikh master of the Radha Soami tradition. His name is Venerable Ishwar Puri Ji. I have watched several of his videos, and I must say that I am extremely impressed...

The Venerable Ajahn Chah (17 June 1918 – 16 January 1992), also known as Phra Bodhinana Thera, is considered one of the most influential and highly-revered Dharma teachers in the world. He established two great monasteries that continue to spearhead the Thai Forest Tradition and was instrumental in spreading Theravada Buddhism in the West....

(By Tsem Rinpoche) Professor Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (18 October 1870 – 22 July 1966) was a prolific Japanese writer known for his translations of important Zen (Chan) and Shin (Jodo Shinshu or ‘Pure Land’) Buddhist texts. His work was instrumental in igniting widespread interest in Buddhism in the West, and was a significant catalyst...

Dear friends around the world, I recently came across reports of this wonderful, compassionate and altruistic lady from Malaysia who has been carrying out great deeds for decades. I am always inspired by such exceptional people who live their lives for the benefit of others and so my students have put together a compendium...

Women have been jumping hurdles and breaking barriers since time immemorial. Unfortunately, some of these brave and heroic women seem to have slipped the history books. Here, I commemorate some forgotten heroines the world over. Shakila Rajendra Beyonce may have made the term ‘slaying it’ popular but it seems our Queen Bey...

Dear friends around the world, Many times we do not do well with relationships that we cling onto for the sake of not losing them. We will do anything to not lose this person and in the end we lose them anyways or we are just miserable. We don’t delve deeper to see if the...

UPCOMING TOPICS FOR SEPTEMBER / 九月份讨论主题

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I must thank my dharma blog team who are great assets to me, Kechara and growth of dharma in this wonderful region. I am honoured and thrilled to work with them. I really am. Maybe I don't say it enough to them, but I am saying it now. I APPRECIATE THESE GUYS VERY MUCH!

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche Videos

Hear the holy voice of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche giving advice on the practice of Dorje Shugden to those who had received the life-entrustment initiation. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche wanted to make sure those present received the maximum benefits from their practice, and that they kept their practice well.LEARN MORE >>

In Tibetan Buddhism, it is always said that whatever we practice must come from an enlightened source to be beneficial in our spiritual journey. As such in this video, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche shares with us the history and reincarnation lineage of Dorje Shugden to explain how great this Dharma protector is through the examples of his previous lives, showing us his powerful spiritual attainments.LEARN MORE >>

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Dear everyone... This is a good condensed talk I gave on Guru Yoga of Tsongkapa. This is the one you should share with others when they are interested in a not too lengthy explanation. It is the perfect practice for everyone who wants simplicity yet effective blessings. You can share this with more people, it will be good.

External Articles

ANIMAL QUOTES

"If you say you don't have money to help a animal shelter, why then do you have money to buy meat?"

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Eating animals is not our God-given right, but being kind to them is."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"What makes us good humans is not how we abuse animals, but how much we allow them to live and be happy freely."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"We need another and wiser and perhaps a more mythical concept of animals.... We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complex than ours they moved finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."

~ Henry Beston, The Outermost House

"Not eating animals is only unnatural when we are not used to it."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES

"We may encounter defeat, but we must not be defeated."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"What you are today, is the choice you made yesterday."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"You think you can choose your life? What an ego trip!"

~ Lama Yeshe

"If TODAY you are dissatisfied, you must make the changes to create different results for TOMORROW."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

SPIRITUAL QUOTES

“Meditating on Dorje Shugden while reciting his mantra will open the gateways to higher dimensions, blessings and protection.”

~ Tsem Rinpoche

“If one does the recitation of the Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga prayer for even one month using one of the visualizations for great or clear or quick wisdom, one will definitely see development of that wisdom. It is proved by experience. There is no doubt that by doing the Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga practice one can meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings from life to life. And furthermore, it gives one the opportunity to be born in the pure realm of Lama Tsongkhapa, Tushita, whenever death happens.”

~ Pabongkha Rinpoche

"I was 18 years old in 1983. That was a very special year as I met His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche and received innumerable precious teachings and empowerments from Him at Thubten Dhargye Ling Centre in Los Angeles, California. It was the best time of my life. A time that seems so magical and surreal to me. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche is Heruka Buddha and I met Heruka."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"If being me offends you, maybe I'm not the problem."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Never abandon your spiritual teacher no matter how many inner obstacles you need to overcome."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Actions to force something to be permanent makes all the karmas arise."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"The dharma is not easy to listen to… because some people take it as criticism. But Dharma should not be just feel good only for the moment but for deeper contemplations."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Whether we do work and suffer but for others or we do work and suffer for ourselves, either way we have to suffer. That is the nature of samsara. So let us suffer for others and then suffering has meaning."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Those who really want the dharma to grow within themselves and to grow for others should never fear hard work, timing, difficulties, struggles, disappointments because it is for a good cause. Working for Dharma is not a prison or work, but it is purely spiritual practice. It is purely collection of merit and purification. Actually not doing dharma work is the real prison."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"His Holiness Zong Rinpoche stressed the need to continue to practice even when we come up against obstacles, and that we should continually review our progress. He stated that a happy, luxurious life was like a good dream, and that obstacles and difficulties were like a bad dream. We should give them no significance, but simply carry on working towards real, everlasting happiness."

LIFE QUOTES

"I pity men who occupy themselves exclusively with the transitory in things and lose themselves in the study of what is perishable, since we are here for this very end-that we may make the perishable imperishable, which we can do only after we have learned how to approach both."

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Money amplifies negative characteristics and that can cause problems.
To walk away from that was actually very easy. I didn't even consider it."

~ Angeline Francis Khoo

"I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud."

~ Carl Jung

"There is a devil there is no doubt, but is he trying to get into us or trying to get out?"

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"If you love someone, show it by being honest, respectful & honorable with them."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."

~ Henry David Thoreau

"If I can just be the way I am & you the way you are & we accept each other, world peace is near."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"I am Asian, you are some other beautiful color. Together we make diversity so beautiful."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"It's amazing how some people have never met me or know who I am, but based on a few things they read here & there & rumours, they have formulated a new personality for me & all the things I've never done they passionately speak about....I find it funny and entertaining now. I guess we can't spend our lives fighting rumours...we just have to work hard & then rumours get proven wrong on it's own as a by product. No point explaining repeatedly. Just do our work & show results!!"

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"There's a difference between patience and laziness. Patience comes from respect while laziness from disrespect of others."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Although outwardly we have so much, we have so many conveniences, inwardly we have become more unhappy, so, acquisition is not the secret to happiness. The more we get, the more we have, the more unhappy we become."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Before we experience any pain, we already had a fixed view of how things should be. When the experience we encounter contradicts our views, then the pain arises. The pain arises due to our fixed views not so much the experience itself. So the secret is changing the views. Re-educating ourselves on our views."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"You know since very young, for better or worse, I always did the things that others told me not to do. I wasn't really good at following the rules. Even now with how I share Dharma and my practice, I just do it the way I think it should be done but I do it sincerely. Not what others tell me what I can and can't do."

~ Tsem Rinpoche

"Love me or hate me, both are in my favor... If you love me, I'll always be in your heart... If you hate me, I'll always be in your mind."

~ William Shakespeare

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest."

~ Maya Angelou

Devotional Songs

Sung by Mary Fewel Tulin, these mystical songs in praise of the guru originate from the Sikh tradition. Yet, they are applicable to all traditions for those who want to venerate their guru.

The Unknown

The Known and unknown are both feared,
Known is being comfortable and stagnant,
The unknown may be growth and opportunities,
One shall never know if one fears the unknown more than the known.
Who says the unknown would be worse than the known?
But then again, the unknown is sometimes worse than the known. In the end nothing is known unless we endeavour,
So go pursue all the way with the unknown,
because all unknown with familiarity becomes the known.
~Tsem Rinpoche

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